<p>For people who used to be bad at critical reading but now score in 700-800 range, how did you do it? Did you use any specific books or websites?
Or could you simply offer general strategies or tips that you find helpful when doing the CR portion. Thanks for any help you may provide :)</p>
<p>come on, someone here must be good at CR!</p>
<p>As far as I know, people who are good at CR start at at least 700-800 range. I don't know anyone who started off with a 600 and made big improvements.</p>
<p>wow, so is their no hope for us who suck at CR??</p>
<p>idk, I'm an alien. I didn't grow up with english around me. I just picked it up a few years ago and now I can only score around 600. It might be easier for people who actually grew up in an english enviroment, but I'm not sure.</p>
<p>yeah i used to score around 500-600 , now i can score 680+. basically i read 40 books last year (novels). that's all i did. before i read around 1 book per year (yeah, i think that's why...).</p>
<p>actually i also memorized some vocabulary, but that was because it was required for my english class.</p>
<p>meadow36, do not be fazed by this haphazard comment- it is completely untrue.</p>
<p>I started out getting 520s on CR...but I started reading (i love to read) books- not just any book that you can read, but really hard books to read.
The more I read, the more my reading comprehension grew, and I became used to reading higher level writing-This kind of skill is paramount in defeating the minatory CR passages the SAT throws at you.</p>
<p>So my suggestions are: Buy Barron's/Gruber's and the blue CB book</p>
<p>Read higher level material: Newspapers, magazines, books</p>
<p>Suggestions for higher level reading: anything by Ernest Hemingway, Consider the Lobster and other Essays by David Foster Wallace, A Temple of Texts by W.H. Gass</p>
<p>Read those and you'll IMPROVE by a whole lot </p>
<p>i started out at 520 and improved to 720 (i got a 76 on my soph PSAT CR)</p>
<p>So while you read, be practicing CB and Barron's CR tests- you'll do great!</p>
<p>hope I helped =)</p>
<p>Another tip:</p>
<p>go to Dictionary</a> and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online and sign up for the Word of The Day </p>
<p>every day you'll get a vocab word e-mailed to you! It's actually very nice, your vocab will grow faster than you expect</p>
<p>also, go to [url=<a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/%5DDictionary.com%5B/url">http://dictionary.reference.com/]Dictionary.com[/url</a>]</p>
<p>and sign up for the Word of The Day</p>
<p>also, try to learn 5 NEW WORDS a day, that's it, in addition to your WOTDS</p>
<p>I went from a 640 in the practice tests to a 780 on the real thing. All in less than one year.
If you're not a junior yet, I'd recommend taking AP English Language, but if you are going into senior year, here are some other tips.</p>
<p>Read. Read. Read. Lots. And not Harry Potter, but hard essays and newspapers. I recommend borrowing "The Best American Essays of the Century" edited by Joyce Carol Oates from your public library. When you read, ALWAYS try to figure out what the author's purpose is, and the tone of the passage. If you read hard essays and newspapers, your vocab will improve without any conscious effort because you'll pick them up as you go. </p>
<p>And of course, do a lot of practice questions. It's best to get used to what types of questions they'll throw at you. Also, on the long-passage readings, never try to read the whole thing. Read the questions first, go to the line numbers referenced, and read around the line numbers to get just enough to answer the questions. If you try to read the whole passage, read the questions, and read the passage again to answer the questions, you'll run out of time. </p>
<p>Hope that helps. :)</p>
<p>Well, to be honest, I don't think there is any "one size" fits all strategy for CR. I got a 79 on Cr psat and score similarly on SAT's, and I do not use any "tricks," except for perhaps reading the passage, and making sure i understand what i am reading before i move on. Although it is possible to eliminate many answer choices just by looking at them, i believe that should be a last resort. Once you practice enough, you will be able to predict key sentences in the passage which will be tested in the questions, make sure to pay special attention to these key phrases and quotes.</p>
<p>Does anyone else have any other strategy?</p>
<p>Go to this post I made - it links to an article I wrote.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/749653-how-attack-sat-critical-reading-section-effectively.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/749653-how-attack-sat-critical-reading-section-effectively.html</a></p>
<p>StrangeIndianFoo, how long did it take you to improve from 520 to 720?</p>
<p>I had a 730 in CR and all I did was read. I didn’t read anything earth-shattering or god-like(just a lot of Star War and College admissions books :p). I also made note of vocab that I didn’t know as well.</p>
<p>However, this could also be because I absolutely love reading books, ever since I was a little child)…</p>
<p>Are there any college admission books that you think really helped you on the SAT?</p>
<p>b/c the problem is that i’ve always loved reading books and still do, but I can’t seem to go up from a 630 Critical Reading score…i don’t know what i’m doing wrong… :(</p>
<p>and the 630 is without the time limit of 25 min, 25min, and 20min, so…I think my score would be lower if I took the test timed…</p>
<p>I used to score 580-620 on CR in practice tests (I got 580, 620 on two practice tests). After taking 3 practice tests in the span of the next month (after scoring 580 and 620), I got 800 CR, 750 CR and 780 CR (I usually only miss points on sentence completion nowadays). The only change I made (albeit, a fundamental change in my approach) was in using Noitaraprep’s method in attacking the passages. I don’t even know why it works, but it does. I’m sure others could testify.</p>
<p>I might have the weirdest CR story, I started off with 570 CR without reading anything except if you call reading sports,computer articles etc… reading.</p>
<pre><code> Then for the Oct test, I started studying for it at the end of summer. My scores were consistently 500’s and I was losing hope (was doing BB btw) 6 exams with scores of 500’s in CR then I read noitaraperps advice and did one exam and got a 610.
I didnt do any practice or reading after that and got a 680 in the oct SAT, so basically I got better at CR by understanding how to tackle the SAT CR , not making up stuff out of mind even though if that answer makes the most sense, usually you have to go with whats in the passage.
</code></pre>
<p>so yea , good luck.</p>
<p>I am one who went from a 600-ish level CR to an 800 CR on the Oct test. My problem was never the vocabulary or even comprehending the passage, but my method of originally choosing to solve the questions. In fact, I have always had perfect Sentence Completion sections, but the answering the comprehension questions before time was called was my biggest dilemma.</p>
<p>At first, I always read the questions before the passage and went back and underlined key phrases and lines. This easily wasted 7-8 minutes per section and by the time five minutes was left, I was already scrambling and this did not allow me to focus on comprehending the passage.</p>
<p>However, after vastly underperforming, I chose a new approach to the CR Comprehension that allowed me to break the passage into sections. I read one paragraph at a time (usually represents a complete thought) and answer any questions relating to it after its completion. I always save the “big picture” questions for the very end. Breaking it into sections is by far the most effective approach since it allows you to maintain focus and read actively by referring to the questions right after you read the paragraph and this doesn’t require you to read the text more than once. With this approach, I now complete CR sections in 10-15 minutes.</p>
<p>Also, don’t bubble as you go along. This breaks your focus. Always bubble in answers after the completion of a passage. Circle your answers in your workbook.</p>
<p>If your vocabulary is lacking, be sure to study. I never did books like Direct Hits or anything. I studied mine from an electronic dictionary.</p>
<p>As for books to read, I would recommend challenging literature, argumentative essays, and the opinion section in your local newspaper. I have never been a big reader, to be honest, due to my personal schedule, but this will allow you to pick up new ideas (esp. for the essays), new words, and increase the rate at which you read and your comprehension. Good luck!</p>
<p>thanks for the advice. i really appreciate it :)</p>
<p>Just one more thing…i know this might sound repetitive but what exactly is Noitaprep’s advice? Everything is so scattered all over the place that I can’t exactly pinpoint what the key advice is…</p>
<p>thanks again!</p>